Wednesday, December 06, 2017

Member of parliament Poonam Mahajan has written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to name the Juhu airport after Late JRD Tata who started civil aviation in India at Juhu airport in 1928. Tata also started the Bombay Flying Club which is the first flying club and first flying school in the country.

Mahajan, a BJP MP from the Mumbai North-West constituency is also the chairperson of the Airport Advisory Committee and is a pilot too.

In the 1990s, there was a great demand to name the Mumbai International airport after JRD Tata, but the Shiv Sena and BJP government in the centre decided to name it after Chattrapati Shivaji.
Juhu airport is the first airport in the country and is now being used by helicopters and small fixed wing aircrafts.

On December 2, Mahajan wrote to Prime Minister that the airport should be named after JRD who was a pioneer in the civil aviation sector in India.

The letter said, "It would pertinent to note that the first ever flight in the history of Indian aviation was undertaken by JRD Tata who became one of the first Indians to be granted commercial pilots license in 1929. The flight under the aegis of Tata Aviation Service - forerunner to Tata Airlines and Air India - carried mail in a Puss Moth aircraft to Juhu airport in Mumbai from Drigh Road airstrip in Karachi via Ahmedabad."

Interestingly, JRD was a recipient of the prestigious Daniel Guggenheim Medal commemorating significant achievement in aeronautics in 1998 for his lifetime of significant contributions to aviation, for his pioneering work in developing commercial air travel in India and Asia and for his leadership in establishing Air India as a major international link between Asia and rest of world.
06/12/17 Yogesh Naik/Mumbai Mirror